Wardrobe Change At 30,000 Feet

We flew with Baby Lauren to Chicago this weekend, and it was quite an adventure!

There's no clean way to say it, so I'm just going to put it on the table: parents talk about poop. It's one of the ways we know our babies are healthy and comfortable. When the time starts to pass between bowel movements, it's safe to say, you've got something coming that will be messy and unpleasant. However, it's also a relief when something overdue occurs. It's no different with poop.

My husband and I flew with Lauren from Raleigh to Chicago this weekend so we could attend a wedding and visit with family and friends. I was a little concerned that I would somehow have to maneuver within the miniature restroom on the airplane for a diaper change on the way out Friday. Fortunately, that didn't happen! Lauren did very well on the plane, making friends and taking a nice nap in my arms. The 90-minute flight was fabulous cuddle time.

As the weekend progressed, Lauren didn't produce the big b.m. we were expecting. Lauren is breastfed, and our pediatrician says it is normal for her to go a few days without a poop. However, it was getting to the point where I was making plans to contact our pediatrician on Monday morning,

We flew from Chicago back to Raleigh Sunday, and again, Lauren was really well-behaved on the flight. She took a bottle about halfway through the flight, and I started to see the signs that her poop was finally about to make its appearance, though I wouldn't exactly consider it an "on time arrival."

It's never good when you see poop before you smell it. Many parents call this event a "blow out." I was about to get up to go to the front of the plan, where the lavatory has a diaper changing table, but it was occupied. So we waited, as I tried to keep her from moving and getting anything else dirty. Pretty soon, we made the dash to the front of the plane.

The lavatory is tiny. It is bumpy. The flight was smooth, but when you have a six-month old on a changing table, you notice every bump. Lauren was happy through it all, probably feeling a lot better in the tummy. Then she got to parade back to her seat in just a diaper, to the delight of many passengers. Hopefully they didn't notice "Lauren's carry-on," a plastic bag the flight attendant gave me for her soiled clothes. We got her back to our seats, dressed her in some clean clothes and buckled up for a smooth landing after a very memorable flight.

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